The past two weeks or so...

We always celebrate Christmas separately with a big dinner with our good friends the Morris family, and with the kids' Grandpa Gabriel. This year, due to scheduling changes we decided to have a Christmas breakfast party instead, and it was a blast! I think it was more fun than just another big dinner, so we might just do it this way from now on!


On Christmas Eve we had a visit from Santa himself, and apparently we have all been very good this year! Aunt Kathy & family sent us a ton of new board games, which we were in desperate need of - we had quite the collection of incomplete board games before, and now we are ready for lots of fun family game nights. Thanks Kathy! Santa must have really loved the cookies because he brought me a new professional model Kitchenaid mixer which I have wanted for awhile now!



The kids held off on their attack till about 8:15 or so, and then there was no holding them back!



Savannah was very excited that she will now be playing her new electric guitar for her biggest fans at our house! She and Shelby have been taking acoustic guitar lessons lately & it's really fun for them, but Savannah wanted to make the jump to an electric guitar. Future rock star? We will all be able to say we knew her when...




Small Paul's favorite gift may have been his stuffed Elmo that he can chew on, but Mommy's favorite was this "bumbo" chair... I can put him down!!!! He was so happy sitting in the middle of the chaos watching the insanity of Christmas morning & has been sitting & watching me do lots of other things ever since. This is my new "go to gift" for all future baby showers - what a life saver! Why didn't they have these things 19 years ago when I started the mommy game??? And speaking of 19 years ago.....





Mikey came home to visit! He is here this week, then Saturday he flies back to Maryland where he is playing soldier for real! It is so much fun to see him, although he's changed alot! He looks great! It's been awhile since we've seen him so we are all really enjoying our time with him. He looks so grown up! Now, speaking of grown up...



Look at this handsome boy! Shawn turned 7 yesterday, so we celebrated with the Morris family, a couple of Shawn's friends, his Uncle Berk, Aunt Erica, Auntie Anita, and his cousins Cami and Tanner. It was alot of fun. Shawn is such a great boy, and this past year he has really grown up so much in so many ways! He is enjoying school so much more this year, he just loves his teacher Mrs. Knittle, and really likes to read to his Grandma Mathews every time we go have Sunday dinner with her.


We've been so blessed this year, and have had such an amazing holiday season so far. We love all of the great family time we've been able to get in, it's been such a happy time. We are looking forward to all that 2010 holds for us. We are so blessed as a family and are so greatful to have each other. Life is good!

Small Paul's Starring role!

Grandma came to visit!!




....................................................Mommy & Daddy were all smiles!!




We even caught one on Small Paul!!



Why so many smiles??? Small Paul's blessing day was today! He was absolutely perfect, not a hint of crying, he just looked up into Daddy's face the whole time! Afterwards we had lots of friends & family over and it was so much fun. We had lots of food, and everyone seemed to have a great time. I love having the house filled with people we love all year long, but it's especially nice when it's for a special day like today, and even more so around the holidays. We had a great time getting to know the Castillo family better, they are so nice, have really fun kids, and are Zoila's brother and his wife! We've been meaning to have them over and today was the perfect opportunity. They are great, just like Zoila! We're glad to have them in our ward and as part of the family!

Now, here's my handsome boy in his blessing suit that he outgrew about 3 lbs ago, but we squeezed him into it anyway...

Busy Times...

Wow - This past week or so has brought us... super fun times at Universal Citywalk with Kathy & part of the Tervort gang, Turkey with the family at Grandma's, Black Friday - an all-nighter thanks to Toys R Us opening at midnight, decorating the house, our wedding anniversary (that was fast), and this weekend we are blessing Small Paul!

Yikes - no wonder I'm tired! Oh well, I'll sleep in January, right now there are presents to wrap & cookies to bake!!!

Reagan's big day...

So, today was a busy one, Reagan had her baptism! She looked so beautiful (if I do say so myself), so grown up, and look at the AMAZING dress that her AMAZING and TALENTED Aunt Debbie made for her - we love you Debbie - thank you again! Grandma made a great DVD featuring Reagan from day one to the present in photos, so beautiful - thanks Grandma! It was lots of fun - Grandma came out with Aunt Chris & Uncle Darren, Uncle Curtis, Aunt Leanne & their kids, Uncle Dick & Jennalynn, and our good friends, the Morris' family. We will be dragging everyone back out here on the 29th to bless Small Paul. We had a wonderful, spiritual day, and I'm once again reminded of how blessed I am in so many ways. Reagan of course had to show her high spirited trademark energy, but all went off without a hitch.

Four kids down, two more to go - next year it'll be Shawn's turn already, then we'll have a break for a bit before it's Small Paul's time.

It's only 7:45 and I'm exhausted already. If I convince Small Paul to go to sleep now I run the risk of him thinking that it's time to be awake for the day way too early. His new favorite thing to do is to take a shower with one of us before bed - it totally relaxes him & send him off into a deep sleep. He's so funny, he loves the water (although he screams in the bath tub like I'm dipping him in lava), and he throws his head back & forth smiling as the water runs down his back. If I add sunglasses the little Stevie Wonder impression will be just about perfect! Paul has a gig tonight, so I'm flying solo on the parenting detail. I normally hand a slippery Small Paul off to Paul's towel covered waiting arms & he warms him up while I get out of the shower - not sure if I want to attempt it on my own, so sorry Small Paul, no shower tonight...

Itty Bitty Small Paul

Little monkey face with the great stand up hair. People are asking me if I use gel to make it that way - like I have the time to give my 6 week old a sideways mohawk? I love the standy-up hair, the grumpy eyebrows (just like Daddy's) and the little boy attached! I'm so grateful to have him and to be able to stay home and watch him grow! I love my family so much everyday, but am overwhelmed with just how much they all mean to me this morning. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband, a pack of great kids to fill our home & hearts, and such an amazing extended family. I love you all!

First trip to Disneyland for Small Paul!

Well, we figured since he's been here a month already & we haven't taken him to Disneyland yet, we were being neglectful! Disneyland is an important family activity for us, so it was time to break in our newest member... He LOVED all of the lights, colors, and singing in Small World, but other than that he kept any opinions he may have had to himself. How fun is it that we ran into Chris, Darren, Stacey & Hanne while we were there?!? We can't wait to go back when everything is decorated for Christmas - it is so beautiful, and so much fun!

Trick or treating at Disney's California Adventure is the best trick or treating EVER!!!

This year, instead of our annual halloween party with 50 or more germy kids invading our house, we decided that it would be safer to arm ourselves with Germ-x and venture out into the world. The kids all had a blast trick or treating all around the park at California Adventure! It was fantastic - all of the characters were out, dancing with the crouds to all kinds of music. The park was closed - just trick or treaters! The kids got tons of candy and we all decided that this will be another annual tradition for our family! We can't wait to do it again next year!

Small Paul got into the act - first trip to Disney's California Adventure, first halloween - what choice did he have but to dress up as Mickey?

Shelby is such a great big sister! Small Paul is so lucky to have three loving girls who like to hold him all the time!

Big 1 month birthday - check out my chins!

As of yesterday, Small Paul was officially one month old. He is such a cutie, and we all love him so much and can't imagine life without him... We put him on the scale yesterday with Daddy & were shocked to see that he weighs 12 lbs!!! Reagan was 16 lbs at a year, Michael was 18 lbs on his first b-day. At this rate Small Paul should be around 60 lbs next September - we may need to reconsider the "Small" part of his name. Yikes!

Reagan is 8!!

How quickly the days go by! I woke up this morning (ok, Small Paul woke me up), and I had an 8 year old Reagan. It seems like it wasn't that long ago when she was the one waking me up in the wee hours of the morning... Life has changed alot in the last 8 years, and I'm so happy to have Reagan in my life - she keeps things exciting around here. I can't imagine life without her sweet smile. Love you baby girl!

Four of the six pack

We think he's pretty cute!!!

Floatin' down the Truckee River while in Tahoe this summer...

First Posting!

Well I guess it's high time we join the rest of the family (and the world) and start blogging about our family and all of the fun and exciting things we do! Maybe this will inspire us to do more exciting things?

Small Paul officially joined the party on September 18 at 2:14 in the morning. Thus far he is absolutely living up to his name - he has Paul's hair, ears, hands, birthmark on the back of his neck, and he showed up two hours late for my birthday! He is an absolute cutey, and we are all pretty crazy about him. The girls all love holding him, which is helpful when I need to fold laundry or start dinner, and Shawn enjoys looking at him from a safe distance.

Everyone else is great - school is well underway for the four big kids at home. Michael is off in Kentucky enjoying (surviving) basic training for the army. Reagan is enjoying piano lessons, and Shelby & Savannah have started guitar lessons. So much talent! If we can get Shawn to learn to play the drums we can start our own band!